Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Satellite Internet: How It Works

Starting point is 00:00:00 When the internet was first launched, it was only available on a few computers at a few research institutions. Over the last 50 years, internet access expanded to cover more institutions and more computers, and eventually it was available in our homes and even in our pockets. Recently, the final step in creating a fully ubiquitous internet was taken, enabling access from any point on the earth's surface. Learn more about satellite internet and how it works on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Do you ever climb into bed ready to sleep only to have your mind start racing the moment your head hits the pillow? Thoughts bouncing around, replaying the day or jumping ahead to tomorrow?

Starting point is 00:00:50 That is exactly why Catherine Nikolai created Nothing Much Happens. Each episode is a gentle, cozy bedtime story where, well, nothing much happens. No drama, no tension, nothing you need to follow closely. Just soft narration, calming repetition, and soothing sensory details designed to help your mind slow down and your body relax. It's not about entertainment. about rest, and millions of listeners around the world use it every night to quiet their thoughts and finally fall asleep. If you've ever struggled to shut your brain off at night, this might be exactly what you've been missing. You can listen to Nothing Much Happens wherever you get your

Starting point is 00:01:25 podcasts. Episodes are every Monday and Thursday. In previous episodes, I discussed how satellites work and the evolution of the communication satellite. In this episode, I want to zoom in specifically on satellite-based internet, which is very different from the communications, satellites that came before it. Just to recap, the idea of a communication satellite was developed in the 1940s by science fiction author Arthur C. Clark. He realized that if you put a satellite in an orbit high enough, it could reach a point where its orbital period matched the rotation of the Earth, one day. From this point, you could aim a satellite dish at a spot in the sky and receive signals beam down to the surface, where anybody within the radio signal's footprint could receive the

Starting point is 00:02:14 transmission. Soon after Sputnik was launched, communication satellites were being put into orbit. These satellites worked fine for broadcasting media, such as television and radio, and even for limited two-way communication. Satellite television became common starting in the 1980s, and it worked because many people received the same satellite signal. A small number of signals could be sent to the satellite, and millions of people could then receive them on the way down. When the internet exploded in popularity in the 1990s, using satellites for internet access was kind of obvious, but there were many problems with this idea. Geosynchronous satellites sit at 35,786 kilometers or 22,236 miles above the Earth. That distance is enormous compared to

Starting point is 00:03:02 terrestrial networks or even low Earth orbit satellites. A single data request doesn't just go up and back once. In a typical internet interaction, it often involves multiple round trips between your device and a server. Even a single round trip introduces a delay of roughly 240 milliseconds, and real-world connections are often closer to 500 to 700 milliseconds. That delay is called latency, and it's the fundamental weakness of geosynchronous satellite internet. Geosynchronous satellites also have a limited total capacity. They cover huge portals. of the Earth, which sounds like an advantage, but it means many users sharing the same satellite bandwidth. As more people connect, speeds will drop, especially during peak usage times. Compared to fiber

Starting point is 00:03:50 or cable networks, scaling capacity is much harder and much more expensive. That isn't to say you can't have internet over these sort of satellites, it's just that it's slow and cost a lot of money. During my travels, I've accessed the Internet several times via the satellite connections. In 2007, I had to go to the communication company's main office in Maduro in the Marshall Islands to get internet access. It was so slow that anything beyond looking at a simple website was impossible. It was on a par with a slow dial-up modem, and you had to pay a premium to use it. Likewise, I used a satellite connection on the island of St. Helena, and it was so slow that I was only able to log on once over the course of three weeks.

Starting point is 00:04:34 If satellites were to be a part of the internet, a different approach would be required. The first serious attempt to create a dedicated satellite internet service was the founding of Teledesic in 1994. It was the brainchild of two billionaires, Bill Gates of Microsoft and Craig McCaw of Macaw Cellular, which was later purchased by AT&T. I've been heavily involved with the internet since I started an internet company back in 1994. When I first learned about Telodesic, I followed it religiously because I found the idea of satellite internet so compelling. Teledic was designed as a low-Earth orbit broadband network, not a traditional satellite system. Instead of acting as simple relay satellites, each satellite would function as a node in a space-based packet-switch network

Starting point is 00:05:22 communicating with neighboring satellites and routing data globally. The goal was to provide fiber-optic-like broadband anywhere on the same. on Earth, including for real-time applications such as video conferencing and multimedia. The constellation went through several iterations. The original 1994 proposal called for 840 active satellites, but later designs reduced that to 288 after cost-cutting and redesigns. The larger number of satellites was required because, unlike geostationary satellites, low-Earth orbit satellites move quickly across the sky, and each covers only a small portion of the Earth at any given time.

Starting point is 00:06:01 The initial plan was to have the satellites at an altitude of about 700 kilometers in near polar orbits, which was revised to a higher altitude of about 1,300 to 1400 kilometers. Telodesic ultimately failed because it tried to execute a technically sound vision before the economics and infrastructure could support it. Launch costs in the 1990s were prohibitively high, meaning deploying hundreds of satellites would have required tens of billions of dollars, far beyond what investors were willing to sustain after the dot-com bubble had collapsed. The required technologies, including cheap mass-produced satellites,

Starting point is 00:06:39 phased array antennas, and efficient inter-satellite networking were not yet mature or affordable. Telodesic was a good idea that was just before its time. In 1996, Hughes Network Systems launched Direct PC, the first consumer satellite internet service. This and similar systems were, one-way connections. Users downloaded data via satellite, but still needed a dial-up modem for uploads. To be fair, download bandwidth is usually much greater than upload bandwidth, but anyone who was using such a satellite connection was usually doing so because they had no other choice. They probably lived in an area without cable or DSL service. The business case for satellite internet

Starting point is 00:07:21 never disappeared. As the world became more connected in people's lives increasingly depended upon the internet, the case for universal access across the planet became more compelling. Advances were slowly being made that made a low-Earth orbit satellite constellation more feasible. The cost of computing continually decreased enabling the construction of smaller, cheaper satellites. Likewise, the cost of solar panels dropped, allowing for cheaper, more efficient power for satellites. The missing piece was the cost of launching satellites into space. Very little progress had been made in terms of reducing launch cost. The radical innovation that reduced the cost of reaching orbit was the reusable rocket pioneered by SpaceX.

Starting point is 00:08:05 While SpaceX's stated goal was to reduce the cost of spaceflight and ultimately enable human settlement of Mars, the company quickly encountered a fundamental economic problem. Launching rockets is capital-intensive, cyclical, independent on external customers. Solving the problem of reusable rockets wouldn't mean much if they didn't have enough customers who wanted to put satellites in orbit. Launches had traditionally been so expensive that there were very few satellite launches per year. Starlink emerged in the mid-2010s

Starting point is 00:08:36 as a solution to that problem, a way to generate steady reoccurring revenue by leveraging SpaceX's launch capabilities to build a global communication system. The first prototype satellites were launched in 2018, followed by the first operational batch of 60 satellites in May 2019, marking the beginning of the largest satellite

Starting point is 00:08:56 constellation ever deployed. From the beginning, Starlink was conceived not as a traditional satellite system, but as a low-Earth orbit broadband network designed to overcome the latency limitations of geostationary satellites. They were going to achieve the dream, first envisioned by Teladesic in the 1990s. By operating at altitudes around 550 kilometers, Starlink could deliver latency low enough for real-time applications like video calls and gaming, something earlier satellite systems struggle to achieve. The relationship between SpaceX and Starlink is unusually tight and mutually reinforcing, to the point that each arguably exists to sustain the other. SpaceX makes Starlink possible through its reusable rocket technology, especially the Falcon 9.

Starting point is 00:09:43 By dramatically reducing the cost per launch, SpaceX enabled the deployment of thousands of satellites at a scale that would have been economically impossible in previous decades. Starlink launches are now among the most frequent missions flown by SpaceX, turning the company into not just a launch provider, but the world's largest satellite operator. As of the time of this recording, there are more Starlink satellites in orbit, a little under 10,000, than have been put in orbit by everyone else in history combined. At the same time, Starlink makes SpaceX viable by providing a massive reoccurring revenue stream. Launch services alone are sporadic and competitive, but Starlink subscriptions generate continuous

Starting point is 00:10:26 income from customers, businesses, and governments worldwide. This revenue funds SpaceX more ambitious projects, particularly the development of the fully reusable Starship system, which I've covered in previous episodes. This was the piece of the puzzle that previous satellite and communications companies lacked, because they didn't control the launches, they couldn't reduce costs as much as they wanted. The Starlink system is composed of three primary elements, satellites, ground infrastructure, and user terminals. The satellites operate in low-earth orbit, as I mentioned, moving rapidly across the sky and handing off connections seamlessly from one to another. Unlike earlier systems, Starlink satellites increasingly communicate with each other using laser inter-satellite links,

Starting point is 00:11:12 creating a mesh network in space that can route data without always relying on ground stations. And while that may not seem like much, the fact that Starlink lasers can operate in the vacuum of space actually makes them faster than fiber optic connections on Earth. Users connect via a flat electronically steered phased array antenna, often erroneously called a dish, which can track satellites automatically without mechanical movement. A phased array antenna is a group of many small antennas that electronically adjust the timing of their signals to steer and focus a radio beam in different directions without physically moving the antenna. It is flat and not concave like a typical satellite dish.

Starting point is 00:11:55 Ground stations link the constellation to the terrestrial internet, although over time the system is evolving towards more space-based routing as laser links expand. Most starlink satellites operate at around 540 to 570 kilometers in their primary orbital shells, whereas the International Space Station, for example, orbits the Earth at a an altitude of about 400 to 420 kilometers. Starling satellites are relatively small and inexpensive by traditional space standards. Early versions weighed about 260 kilograms or 573 pounds and were roughly the size of a table, while newer version 2 satellites are larger at around 800 kilograms or 1,700 pounds and are a few meters across. Mass production has driven prices down dramatically,

Starting point is 00:12:39 with estimates of roughly a quarter to a half a million dollars per satellite for early versions and closer to a million dollars for newer, larger, more capable models, excluding launch costs. The impact that Starlink has already had has been dramatic. In many rural and remote regions, traditional broadband was never economically viable. Running fiber across mountains, deserts, or sparsely populated areas simply doesn't pay off. Starlink changed that overnight by making high-speed internet available anywhere with a clear view of the sky. This has been especially impactful in places like rural North America, parts of Africa, remote islands, and isolated communities where people went from dial-up or no connection at all

Starting point is 00:13:23 to broadband-capable video calls and streaming. It has effectively collapsed the geographic barrier to connectivity in a way that no previous system has. Starlink has also had major geopolitical and military consequences. Its use in Ukraine demonstrated that a decentralized satellite network can provide resilient communication even when terrestrial infrastructure is destroyed or jammed. This has forced governments and militaries to rethink their communication strategy. Instead of relying solely on centralized systems, they now have access to a distributed,

Starting point is 00:13:56 rapidly deployable network that is difficult to disable. At the same time, it's raised concerns about private companies controlling critical infrastructure during military conflicts. When hurricanes, earthquakes, or wildfires knock out local networks, Starlink terminals can be deployed quickly to restore communication. Emergency responders have used it to coordinate relief efforts, connect hospitals, and provide temporary internet access to affected populations. Currently, Starlink has a de facto monopoly on satellite internet,

Starting point is 00:14:25 but other companies are planning to compete. One Web already has hundreds of satellites in orbit and focuses on enterprise, aviation, and government connectivity rather than direct consumer service. Amazon is developing Project Kuiper, a planned constellation of over 3,000 satellites intended to deliver global broadband, leveraging Amazon's cloud and logistics ecosystems. Traditional geostationary providers like VASAT and SESSA are also evolving,

Starting point is 00:14:52 investing in higher capacity satellites and hybrid networks that combine both geosynchronous and medium-earth orbit systems. Meanwhile, China is pursuing its own large-scale constellation projects, signaling that satellite internet is becoming a globally competitive and strategic industry, rather than the domain of a single company. I'll close by noting that satellite internet is not for everyone. If you live in a place that can get DSL or fiber, it is probably a much better option.

Starting point is 00:15:20 However, for much of the rest of the planet, including places such as the South Pole and remote wilderness areas, satellite internet offers the promise of connectivity for everything everywhere. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible.

Starting point is 00:15:48 And I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord. That's where everything happens that's outside the podcast. And links to those are available in the show notes. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups, you two can have it read in the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Satellite Internet: How It Works

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